Samuel Lewis Southard (June 9, 1787June 26, 1842) was an American statesman of the early 19th century, serving as a U.S. senator, secretary of the Navy, and the tenth governor of New Jersey. He also served as president pro tempore of the Senate, and was briefly first in the presidential line of succession due to concurrent vacancies in the offices of vice president and speaker of the House.

Biography

The son of Henry Southard and Sarah (Lewis) Southard, Henry was born in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards Township, New Jersey, on June 9, 1787. Southard's ancestors included Anthony Janszoon van Salee, one of the earliest settlers of New Amsterdam (of partial Moorish descent), and his siblings included Isaac Southard. Southard attended the Brick Academy classical school and graduated from Princeton University in 1804. Southard served in office from January 26, 1821, to March 3, 1823, when he resigned. During this time, he was a member of the committee that produced the Missouri Compromise.

President James Monroe selected Senator Southard to be Secretary of the Navy in September 1823, and he remained in office under President John Quincy Adams. In 1839, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.

Death and burial

He died in Fredericksburg, Virginia, on June 26, 1842. Southard was buried in Washington's Congressional Cemetery.

Legacy

The destroyer , (later DMS-10), 1919–1946, was named in his honor.

There is also a public park in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, named after him. There is also a street named after him in Key West, FL as well as Southard Street in Trenton, New Jersey.

See also

  • List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1790–1899)

References

Sources

  • Dictionary of American Biography.
  • Birkner, Michael. Samuel L. Southard: Jeffersonian Whig. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1984.
  • Ershkowitz, Herbert. Samuel L. Southard: A Case Study of Whig Leadership in the Age of Jackson. New Jersey History 88 (Spring 1970): 5-24.
  • "Samuel L. Southard Papers (1783-1893),(bulk 1802-1846), Finding Aid C0250", consisting of 170 boxes and 73.6 lineal feet of original documents of financial and personal affairs, including correspondence from Charles Muir Campbell of Princeton, NJ. Most boxes are organized by year and subject. Access to these documents is via Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Manuscripts Division.
  • New Jersey Governor Samuel Lewis Southard, National Governors Association
  • Samuel Lewis Southard at The Political Graveyard
  • The Samuel L. Southard Papers concerning the Quaker Separation held at Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

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